BIG BUGS EVERYWHERE RIck Ockleman with a 22.5" Green Drake Eater and a Drake below that was hanging out on our cooler. Yesterday the action with big bugs continued. The Green Drakes increased their range while March Browns and Isonychia continue to emerge. During the day and last night passing rain storms continued to fall on the region. Some areas received localized heavy downpours while other areas only had light rain. In the area I fished we had the downpours and we floated in lightly turbid water as some tributaries were pumping some mud. This should be clear in most places today. All of our rivers have risen in flow since yesterday. The amount of increase varies by river but since every

GREEN DRAKES AND ISONYCHIA ARE ON THE WATER! The fish above is a 20 incher taken on the maiden voyage of our new StealthCraft Raft. The photo below is a Snapper we saw chilling on a rock wondering when the sun is coming out. Over the last few the insect hatches have been improving fast. The Drake sightings here and there became a full hatch yesterday. The Green Drakes emerged heavily on the Beaverkill all afternoon. There was also a respectable Hatch of Drakes over most of the Main Stem. In addition to the Drakes, Isonychia made their first appearance of 17. These large fish favorites were on the water in good numbers throughout the afternoon. This coming week has always been known as BUG WE

Memorial Day 2017 Happy Memorial Day to all as we remember those who sacrificed for our great country! The Fly fishing remains very good across the system. There is a good rain falling now which should give our rivers a nice refresh. Water levels are expected to rise throughout the day. There was a light hatch of some green drakes yesterday. The big bugs are coming! Look for a more detailed report tomorrow and throughout the coming week.

WEEKEND OUTLOOK Last night Guide Zach's guys doubled up on dry fly Browns Another weekend is upon us. This one is looking pretty good as water levels are perfect for all and the big insect hatches are underway. The overall fishing is good just about everywhere but there are a lot of options. The tailwater and freestone rivers are offering a vastly different fishing experience from one another. The tailwaters are decent but in my opinion not the best choice at this time. They are the lowest water at this time which always makes the fishing a challenge. The early heavy hatches are waning and the fish are getting pretty snotty about their feeding habits. These rivers are in need of a hatch cha

GOOD FISHING ALL AROUND THE RIVER SYSTEM Yesterday brought us another good day of fishing for all of our Baxter House guests. Our guides were spread out around the region and all brought their people back with good reports and some awesome photos. There was once again a good steady pick of rising fish throughout the day. There is just enough insect activity to keep the trout looking up. The daytime action is a combination of a lot of bugs. There is always something in the drift so you just have to look for the heads coming up. March Browns, Sulfurs, X-Hendricksons, Several Caddisfly Species and spinners are on the water. Last night the Sulfur hatch we simply amazing on the stretch that I flo

SULFURS ARE ON THE WATER! Yesterday the Dry fly action bounced back in a good way. Several of our float trips were able to dry fly fish for the entire day. Others mixed it up with nymphing and killed it with this method. On the Main Stem and Lower East the action really picked up since the water levels got manageable. On my float trip yesterday we started with nymphs and had instant action. We took 2 fish right away and found our first riser within 10 minutes of the launch. From that point on it was all dry fly fishing and we ran the numbers up. The fish were on the March Browns and just about anything else you wanted to throw. The action was very similar with our other guides who were sprea

Yesterday's rainfall had no effect on our local river. Over the last 24 hours our river have continued to slowly drop in flow rate. The overcast skies and light rainfall did however contribute to the best emergence of March Browns to date. The Main Stem and the Beaverkill had quite a bit of action with these large insects. The lower East had a sharp increase but the fish welcomed them with only lackluster feeding. This March Brown action is sure to get better daily and we can expect to see lerger spinner flights by weeks end. This is a yearly highlight as these huge spinners come back in mass right at dark. It does not take long for the trout to recognize the quality of this food source. Yes

RIVER CONDITIONS CHANGING RAPIDLY There has been a good amount of change in the river conditions since my last report. The most significant is the dropping river flows. Across the system every river is steadily dropping with varying rates. The largest difference from last week to today is on the East branch. The Upper river went from difficult wading and dominated by drift boats to looking like a gentle spring creek again. The flow is down about 700 cfs. in a week to the current flow of 285 cfs. This is now a full access river and the fish are getting tough to fool at the lower flows. The LOwer East has also dropped to a point where unlimited wading access is possible. The West is also down

WEEKEND OUTLOOK Above are the hands of Hugh Cornwall who took this Urchin Bugger eating beast during the heat of the day from crystal clear water on his float trip yesterday. THE REPORT This weekend will offer visiting anglers the best river conditions since the Trout season opened on April first. Our rivers are finally at manageable flows and there is good weather forecast for the next few days. Currently all of our rivers except the Main Stem Delaware have good flows for wade anglers. Here are this mornings flows. We can expect them to steadily fall over the next few days. BK 535 cfs. Willow 260 cfs. EB upper 508 cfs. EB lower 1220 cfs. WB 1160 cfs. MS 3270 cfs. There are plenty of options

The photos above and below are Apex Predator Rich Julian holding 22.5" of East branch Power. This was our best fish on yesterday's float. Taken on one of our Hackle Wing Spinners! THE REPORT The fly fishing is very good across the system but in some areas it is incredible. The Tailwaters, East and West branches have lots of action with dry flies. Hendricksons and Hendrickson spinners are on the water in a big way. Our guests are killing it every day. We have been handling both big numbers of fish and some truly large Brown Trout. Below is Hugh Cornwall with another nice spinner eating Brown from Yesterday The freestones, Beaverkill, WIllowemoc, Lower East and Main Stem are offering a wide ar

As I expected yesterday was a bug filled day. The mornings bright sunshine warmed the region and brought all of the waiting Blue Quill and Hendrickson spinners back to the water for an incredible spinner flight that lasted from about mid day until dark. The numbers of insects in the air and on the water was an incredible spectacle to witness. The bugs combined with the trout gorging made yesterday one of the best I've seen on the stretch of river I fished. I had my buddy Rick out for his first trips of the year and he nailed the right day. We had 20+ fish of various sizes, all brown trout. All of our other guests who were on the same water had similar results. This hot action is sure to con

There is very little change in the river conditions since yesterday. The Big news here is that the big ball of fire in the sky is visible. We are expecting a sunny warm day. This should push all of the spinners remaining in the trees to the water today. Heavy spinner activity started last night towards dark and it should continue today. The only other change yesterday was the appearance of the first few sulfurs of the season. During the late afternoon I saw a few, (4 or 5) taking off from the water. The photos are Mike G looking buff with some spinner eating Brownies. We also had some decent action early in the day with both Streamers and Nymphs. The little guy below bit off more than he cou

GREAT FISHING CONTINUES IN THE RAIN The action right now is very good in most places. Anglers can now expect to find action with Dry Flies, Nymphs and Streamers. I have always been a big streamer fishermen and I tend to lean towards this method during the non hatch periods early in the season. Over the last few weeks I have had a lot of anglers out with me who share the same affliction. Below is the start of another day with Ken Taylor showing off some of his girls. We put a lot of them in for a swim on Friday. Over the weekend the great fishing continued. Our guests are all commenting that they have never seen it this good. I have a slightly different opinion from where I sit in the rowers

WEEKEND OUTLOOK This weekend there is rain in the forecast again. Since the fish have been awake and feeding aggressively the rainy days have been excellent. No one likes to be uncomfortable but last weekend we had similar conditions and all of our guests had some of their best Delaware River fishing ever. Anglers planning to fish this weekend will find Hendricksons on the tailwaters and March Browns on the Freestones. Caddisflies are widespread and our guides are seeing heavy caddis activity everywhere. The last 2 days the main highlight has been huge returns of Hendrickson spinners late in the day. The weekend should offer a combination of the above. There should also be a good streamer b

THE PARADE OF BIG BROWN TROUT CONTINUES! To say that the dry fly action is great would be an understatement. For the last 5 days our guests have fished the dry fly almost the entire day and the amount of fish rising has been incredible. Yesterday the gorging on Hendrickson's continued. With the sun finally appearing, millions of Hendrickson spinners took to the air making the action even more intense. The afternoon was an incredible sight as every riffle filled with these large spinners. The scene was something you would see on the National Geographic channel as Swallows attacked the swarms of insects from above and the Trout from below. Our guests were in between helping themselves to some

DRY FLY ACTION ON FIRE, THE GIANTS KEEP COMING TO NET! Yesterday we had 5 boats on the river in various sections. Everybody fished the dry fly all day long! Our guests have had 3 straight days now where dry fly action has dominated the day. During this first real burst of surface activity our guests are averagin over a dozen fish per day and 20 inchers are being netted at a pretty fast rate. Yesterday just about every fish on my boat was 18 inches or better. The hot dry fly action has come at a great time for fly fishermen. In the last 24 hours a lot more of the Upper Delaware has become wadable. There is now good access in the Beaverkill, Willlowemoc, East and West branches. Here's the scoo

WEEKEND RECAP AND LOOK AHEAD Over this past weekend the challenging weather continued but the Trout activity shifted gears. This was the first time this year where we have strung together a few days in a row of great fishing. Over the last 3 days I have had long time Delaware River regulars and each day I heard that it was their best trip ever. Overall our guests have been crushing it. The Streamer bite is in high gear now. In the areas where our guides have been floating you do not go very far without a big mature Brown Trout charging out at a properly fished bait fish imitation. The Dry fly action has also been great especially late in the day. Over the last 4 days the Hendrickson's have

WEEKEND OUTLOOK It looks like a solid trend is developing for every weekend thus far in the 2017 trout season and it involves rain jackets. This weekend it looks like gray skies and rainfall right through until Monday when it is forecast to mix with snow. The mountains are definitely back in an early spring holding pattern as the next 5 days are looking at high temps in the mid 40's. There is also frost in the forecast for several of the next few days. For the fly fishermen this is a tough pill to swallow since the Hendrickson hatch is on the water. At this time all of our rivers are very high. Currently the best options for wade anglers is the Upper Willowemoc, Upper Beaverkill, Upper West

FROST IN THE CATSKILLS This morning the rain and overcast skies cleared as a cold front pushed into the area. This morning we woke to below freezing temperatures and outside everything is covered in a layer of frost. It is expected to get up to the mid 50's today and that is what we are expecting daily for the next 5 days. Cool weather in May along with high water everywhere should set us up for a very long trout season. Yesterday was a tough day on the river for all of our guests. The high water combined with high winds made it tough to hit the spots consistently. The cold weather also seemed to slow the trout activity considerably. Over the last 2 days the best action has been very late i

WATER EVERYWHERE! Today's report is not much different that yesterday. All area rivers are very high from the recent heavy rain. There is water pouring into our river from everywhere. This morning both Pepacton and Cannonsvile Reservoirs have heavy water coming into them from above. Both Reservoirs are spilling over their dams with a large volume of water. The entire length of Pepacton is highly mixed and turbidity is being observed from the top of the reservoir to the spillway. The waters below the dams are very high and running with mixed turbidity. At this time the West Branch is the lower of the two and may offer another crack at fishing some Alewife that have spilled over. The East Bra